


The Kids Are Alright

by TheUnnamedOne



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Bootleg Zombies, Dark, Disease, Human AU, Human Experimentation, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm Bad At Summaries, Infection, Kidnapping, Kinda, Lobotomy, Multi, Murder, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Read at Your Own Risk, Self-Harm, Stockholm Syndrome, Temporary Amnesia, The Author Regrets Nothing, Torture, Vivisection, this is not a happy story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-01-22 20:20:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18534784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheUnnamedOne/pseuds/TheUnnamedOne
Summary: “Shirking duty to smoke again, Yao? Shouldn’t do that. Smoking causes cancer.”Yaos’ smile widened a small fraction. “If you had to choose, which would you rather die from? Cancer, or the infection?”Alfred snorted. “Neither, ideally. But if I had to choose.” The other man scrunched his face up and took the smoke from Yaos’ hand.----AKA: The remix zombie apocalypse drops and not a single person in the world is ready for it (of course).





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there thanks for giving this story a shot!
> 
> Fair warning, there WILL be triggering topics in here. I tried to tag appropriately without giving spoilers, and will update the tags as I continue. It's 3AM at the time of posting this so I'm likely to have missed some from the first chapter. Sorry. 
> 
> I've tried to keep preeeetty close to the characters personalities but it IS an AU so some differences are there. Headcanons are put in as I see fit (I.E, China totally wears glasses when he's on the computer).
> 
> I've also stayed 12381986 miles away from ship tags for the moment because I find them limiting so early on in a story. If a ship occurs I'll add the tag but for the time being I have exactly zero plans for shipness. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

“ _This is the way the world ends_  
_Not with a bang but a whimper.”_  
 _― T.S. Eliot_

 

_Step. Step. Step._

Lukas stilled his breath and clenched his hands together. ‘ _Don’t shake don’t shake don’t shake don’t shake’_ it took every ounce of willpower to stay frozen against the wall. He was certain he had run too fast, but the footfalls around the corner only made his heart beat faster. He would be caught. He had to run he had to – Lukas inhaled slowly, careful that the exhale was silent. Running would give away his position. And there was only so much running he could do before his legs gave out. No, his best chance would be to hide and wait for the other to give up.

 _Step. Step. Screeeeeeeeeeeech._ Lukas swallowed the lump in his throat at the sound of the metal scraping. He was too terrified to look at what exactly was the cause of the sound.

“Lu~kaaaaas. I know you can hear me.” _Step. Screeech. Step. Screeech. Step._ “Why do you hide from me?”

Very slowly and quietly Lukas moved further down the hall, away from the corner that held his terror. If he could get to the door at the end of the walkway he could hide there, or if the classroom still had chairs he could break a window and get out of the building. They were only on the second floor, hopefully he could shimmy down to the ground safely. Each step towards his goal was agonizingly slow but with each step he felt the pit in his stomach loosen.

Ten more steps. Nine. Eight. Seven.

“Found you!” _SCREEEECH!!!!_ Lukas didn’t even look, just broke into a sprint to yank open the door. He fumbled with the knob, his breathing near on hyperventilating as he threw his entire weight around and onto the door to close it behind him. Several thuds against the door prevented his heartbeat from calming as he scanned the dark room in a panic. Desks and chairs were through across the room in a chaotic order, as if the previous occupants had been in a similar state upon leaving.

“Lukaaaaaasssss. Come out of there!” Another thud followed by a worrying whine of wood. Lukas sobbed against the door. The lock on the knob would buy him some time but not much. He had to act fast. _Click_. Without wasting another second he lurched forward to grab the nearest chair.

He nearly tripped as he pulled the chair towards the windows, summoning strength into his shaking atms to fling it at the glass. Shards scattered out into the night, some falling backwards as the chair went tumbling through the window. Lukas breathed a relieved sob and reached to grab the window sill. Remnants cut into his skin and caused his hands to scream in pain. Adrenaline pushed him through it. He put a knee up and glanced down to squint at the ground below. It was dark, and the pavement look menacing. There weren’t many places he could grab on to to make the decent any better. But he had no choice.

His bloody hands pulled his body up on the sill, one leg thrown over just enough to stabilize as he – _CRACK!_ A pipe smashed down on the sill next to his hand, just missing his arm on the way past and Lukas barely had time to widen his eyes before the back of his shirt was grabbed roughly. His shout was strangled and the image of freedom wrenched itself away while he was flung back towards the door.

“Trying to leave me here.” His elbow smashed into a nearby desk leg and the skin of his back burned. “That’s not very nice of you.” Lukas rolled, tears falling from the shock of his elbow. “Big Brother.”

“Please…. Please don’t.” He used his arms to push himself onto his knees, trying to stand. _CRACK!_ The pipe was brought down on ground next to him, making his ears ring for the second time and he flinched hard. He tried to force his arms to move him away, but a foot came out to kick at his elbow. Blood flooded from his mouth where his teeth had torn into his lip. Smaller hands reached down and yanked him over onto his back.

Spitting the blood to the side he blinked tears away as he stared up into the eyes that he used to know by heart. Emil smiled.

“You said we would be together forever.”

Lukas shook his head. “Emil, you’re not --”

“Forever, brother.” Emil dropped his foot down on Lukas’ stomach, causing him to choke and curl. “Forever.” The same foot forced its way to one of Lukas’ hands, pinning it to the ground under his shoe. “Why are you trying to leave me?” Keeping one hand pinned, Emil dropped to kneel over Lukas, cocking his head to the side to gaze at the older boys face.

“P-Please.” Lukas sobbed. 

“Please what?” Emil brought his face closer, whispering through his smile. Lukas stared into the now grey eyes. A side effect of the infection, they had said, the pupils lose their color. The white are permanently bloodshot and the skin around the eyes appears rash-like and swollen. Lukas saw the remnants of blood on Emils’ nose. It had happened long enough ago that the skin was stained. Emil barely looked like his brother. More tears streamed out of his eyes.

“Being silent is no fun, big brother.” The foot on his hand ground down harder and Lukas grit his teeth hard. “Why won’t you play with me?” Emil lowered his upper body further, nose almost touching. Lukas shuddered at the putrid breath wafting over his face.

Not thinking another thought he smashed his head forward, colliding with Emils face. Through the ringing his his head he made out the shout of pain and the foot slipped. Lukas wrenched his hand out and using both arms shoved Emil as hard as he could. The younger male fell backwards, off balance and Lukas scrambled away, fighting the nausea coming up.

“NO!” A hand was wrapped around his ankle and Lukas kicked back blindly with his other foot. “No I won’t let you!!” Both Emils’ hands were now wrapped around his lower leg, digging into the muscle and pulling. Lukas bit back a sob and kept fighting to get out of the others grip. “You’re mine!! MINE!”

“You’re infected, Emil!”

“MINE!” Emils’ voice had lost it’s sticky sweet undertone, instead raspy and deep. Lukas kicked harder, in the direction of his voice. “NO!” His foot connected and the hands loosened their grip. Lukas pushed forward to get on his feet as he headed to the window. He had to get out. He had to jump. If he didn’t -

“NO NO NO NO!!” The sound of the pipe scraping against the floor again set his aching body into overdrive as he reached the window. Glass crunched under his shoes and Lukas slipped, body landing hard against the wall next to the window. His shoulder took the force of it and he swallowed more blood from his lip. Getting over the sill was a blur. His eyes focused below him as he scrambled to find purchase on the wall outside, shards of glass digging deep into the palms of his hands. He didn’t have time to focus on it.

“You can’t leave me.” Emils’ face leaned out of the window and his hands pressed hard on top of Lukas’. Lukas screamed, both in pain and frustration. He was so close. “You said forever. You promised. FOREVER!” Emil gripped tightly around Lukas’ wrists and Lukas looked up to stare at his brother.

“Emil.” His eyes raced around the image before him. “Brother.” His voice gasping and sad. Emil paused, squinting his eyes down. “Emil I’m sorry.” The choked sob left his throat in a rush. “I’m so very sorry. I...” He closed his eyes momentarily and breathed deeply. “I love you.”

When he opened his eyes again Emil had smiled. So close to the smile he had worn as a child. So close.

Lukas ripped his hand out, bloody trails on the wall mirroring the tears on his cheeks. Before Emil could react Lukas reached up to grip the boys hair below his ear, and using the only strength he had left, slammed Emils’ head sideways into a shard of glass still connected to the window frame.

Blood and shards rained down but Lukas didn’t take his gaze from his brothers face. The smile was gone. The eyes were wide. The glass stabbed into his throat broke from its foundation. Emil sputtered twice. And Lukas pulled him through the window.

He nearly lost his grip on the window as his brothers body rushed past him to land solidly on the pavement. His arms were shaking and he was dizzy. His brothers blood was in his mouth, on his forehead, in his eyes. He sniffled, looking down to see the contorted body of his little brother; a growing halo staining his white hair, the contrast looking almost artistic in the shadows below.

Lukas let go.

 ~*~*~*~*~

Tapping his pen against the table Yao groaned a string of curses. None of the data gathered had helped in the slightest. They still were no closer than they had been two weeks ago, or even two months ago. He leaned back in his chair with a sigh, sparing a cursory glance around the room as the others hard at work. They all looked as exhausted as he felt. His eyes drifted back to the computer screen but to his tired eyes all the code blurred together. His glasses landed on the desk and he stood to stretch.

“Anyone need a coffee?” A few hands rose up in silence and Yao nodded, heading to the door without another word. Fingers rubbed the bridge of his nose as he slowly walked through the halls of the facility. None of it made sense. And the stupid thing was that it should have made sense by now.

The infection didn’t affect kids, so far as they could tell. Once they had discovered that the military had scrambled to collect as many children as they could find. Sometimes they found bodies. Some had been torn apart, some starved to death locked in cabinets or basements. Most of the time they had found nothing at all. With more of the infection spreading, the more kids just turned up missing. Vanished without a trace. Those they had been able to save had all gone north with Ivan.

Yao punched a code into the door leading outside and inhaled the fresh air deeply. Smoke breaks were rare these days; all time and resources must be spent studying the virus and finding a cure. He knew the kids held some kind of key, but Ivan wouldn’t budge. If he could just get some blood samples, a few bits of hair then maybe ….

He shook his head and lit a smoke. The man was stubborn.

“ _You will NOT put them through more pain.”_

“ _I told you it won’t be painful! Their blood could save everyone!”_

“ _No. I know how the military will work. You will take samples but it will not stop there.”_

“ _Ivan please! They’re immune! Don’t you understand --”_

“ _I. Said. No. I will not tell you again.”_

Their last phone call had not been a pleasant one. Yao sighed. He understood where the man was coming from. In ordinary circumstances he would agree. But these were far from ordinary circumstances. They needed those kids. The door behind him opened and he glanced back, smiling as a familiar head of hair came to stand by him.

“Shirking duty to smoke again, Yao? Shouldn’t do that. Smoking causes cancer.”

Yaos’ smile widened a small fraction. “If you had to choose, which would you rather die from? Cancer, or the infection?”

Alfred snorted. “Neither, ideally. But if I had to choose.” The other man scrunched his face up and took the smoke from Yaos’ hand. Yao laughed for a second. “Was wondering when you would take a break. You’ve hardly left that room in weeks.”

He hummed, staring down at the trucks and personnel going about their jobs. “I was going in circles. Not very productive.”

“Yeah. Patrols are pretty much the same.”

Yao took the smoke back and stared at Alfreds’ grim face. “How bad?”

Alfred shook his head slowly. “City’s overrun or deserted. Damn things have destroyed anything people might have used as shelter. And they don’t fall for the same tricks anymore. They know where our strong points are. Won’t be long before they find a crack in our defenses.”

A moment of silent breathing as he studied the mans expression. “Have you heard from Ivan?”

Blue eyes flicked sideways. “No. all outposts north have gone silent.”

Yao nodded, processing. “Perhaps he is simply ignoring us. You know the last time we spoke was… less than friendly.”

“Maybe.” Alfred turned around to face the door, leaning back against the railing. “Haven’t heard from Arthur either. Gilbert checked in few days ago. No progress.”

He straightened, hesitating. “And.. Matthew?”

Alfred was silent, staring at the blinking light above the door. “No sign of him. Wherever he went he didn’t leave a trail.”

“Al, he’s smart.”

“Smartest man I know.”

“He’ll be safe.”

“Safe.” Alfred nodded once, turning to smile at Yao. “At least I know he won’t be getting cancer. He finds cigarettes filthy.”

“They ARE filthy!” The two laughed. “Come. We need coffee, you can tell me how your recruits are doing.”

“BAH!” Alfred swiped his key card, holding the door open for them to pass through. “If we weren’t so desperate I’d send them all away.”

~*~*~*~*~

“ _You know it’s the only way you’ll survive.”_

“ _No I… I can’t. Please don’t make me!”_

“ _I won’t let you die.”_

“ _NO!”_

Jerking his body upright a fraction of a second before the vomit hit his mouth, Gilbert rolled over off the bed to retch the contents of his stomach onto the ground. It took a few moments before his body stopped convulsing. His shaky hand came up to wipe the spite and vomit away, his breathing shallow as he calmed from the dream.

_Not a dream. A memory. You can’t hide from it Gil._

He shook his head and stood slowly. There wasn’t much point to brushing his clothes off but out of habit his hands patted himself down. Gilbert shook his head and sighed. The sun wasn’t quite up yet, but there wasn’t any chance of him getting any more sleep. His legs carried him out of the room, eyes barely catching on the blood stains along the broken door. It was a good thing they weren’t in the city; any infected had long ago cleared from the area.

‘ _No more victims for them outside of the cities. We will be safe the further we go.’_ The memory of his brothers words came forward and Gilbert shook his head. He didn’t have the energy to spare getting stuck in what was.

In what used to be the dining room Kiku sat at the table, closely studying a map. From the look of his eyes, Gilbert guessed the other man had not slept. He sighed. “Again?”

Kiku looked up and nodded. “He hasn’t moved.”

He brought a hand up to run through his hair and swallowed. They wouldn’t last much longer if neither of them could sleep. The distance they traveled grew shorter every day simply because they lacked the energy to continue. Gilbert turned from the table and walked over to the living room. Holes lined the walls, a bookshelf knocked down. There had been a struggle long before they had found the place. The carpet may have been another color at once point, but now it was dirtied and bloodstained.

Sitting on the couch, on the one cushion that hadn’t been torn apart, was Feliciano. Kiku and Gilbert had sat him there the night before, and just as Kiku had said, the boy hadn’t moved an inch.

Gilbert walked over and crouched in front of his knees. “Hey, you in there?”

Dulled eyes flicked to Gilberts face. “Gil.” Gods he remembered when that voice was loud and you could hear the smile without even looking. His heart ached at what it sounded like now.

“Yeah buddy, I’m here.” He carefully reached out to hold one of Felicianos’ hands. “You didn’t sleep?”

“Sleep.” A shuddering breath. “I didn’t.”

“That’s not good. We have to walk again today. You need sleep so you can walk.”

“So we can find Ludwig?”

It was almost impossible to swallow the lump in his throat. “Yes of course.”

Feliciano nodded, looking at Gilbert but not seeing him. “He’s waiting.”

His fingers twitched, grip on the others’ hand tightening imperceptibly. The corners of his lips fought to stay smiling, the tremble in his chin combated by clenched teeth. He had to take a deep breath before he could speak. “That’s right. He’s waiting, and he’s going to be sad if you show up sick because you didn’t sleep.”

He was given no warning as the other launched himself forward to wrap his arms around Gilberts shoulders, face coming to rest against his neck. Gilbert chanced a breath and slowly brought his own arms around to hug the smaller body. Feliciano whimpered. “He’s dead.”

Gilbert shook his head. “No, no remember? He’s ok he’s just --”

“He’s dead. He’s dead and it’s my fault!”

“No, no hey Feli--”

“I killed him! I KILLED HIM!”

“KIKU!”

The name had barely left Gilberts lips and another pair of arms grabbed onto Felicianos’ wrists. Just in time to stop him from scratching at Gilberts back. “He’s dead!”

“Shhhhh, hush now, breathe. It’s ok.” Kiku had dropped down, carefully pushing Feliciano against the couch. Gilbert was frozen, eyebrows knit together as he struggled to speak.

“He’s dead.” Feliciano dropped his arms suddenly, eyes locking on Gilberts’. “Everyone is going to die.”

~*~*~*~*~


	2. Chapter 2

“ _I sat in the dark and thought: There’s no big apocalypse. Just an endless procession of little ones.”_

_― Neil Gaiman_

 

When the infection began no one wanted to believe it was a real thing. Of course the internet is filled to the brim with tales of conspiracies, odd sightings, mysteries and anything else you can think of. Any footage of affected citizens was very quickly debunked by scientists and politicians, or anyone who had a basic understanding of editing software. Humans, as it turned out, were a skeptical bunch. Everyone felt secure on their couch, holding their phones and scoffing at the trickle of tweets coming through about this “new disease”. It wasn’t real. It couldn’t have been! People literally made a living off of making this stuff up for entertainment.

The first sign of real danger came when a hospital in Paris became overwhelmed with symptoms. No one could really tell what was wrong with their patients but what was certain was that every single person in the hospital started getting sick. Very sick. Doctors and families were concerned, naturally, and dedicated every ounce of effort and time with helping. Their attempts at quarantining the hospital did nothing to slow the spread and doctors from all over the country pulled together their resources in an attempt to combat this odd sickness. Most wrote it off as an advantaged strain of the flu. A week went by with no improvement and more people getting sick. In a desperate act the French government called on foreign aid. Scientists from various fields pooled their resources together to focus on this epidemic. 

Miraculously after another week people recovered and those studying the disease were left just as baffled as when it started. As soon as the news of recovery was announced the city rejoiced and a people took to the streets in celebration, despite no one really knowing what had happened. Everyone was just relieved and honestly awestruck. As the festivities continued on throughout the day and into night more and more people joined. Over 2 million people took time out of their lives to come together in a comradery that had the media buzzing. The occasion was streamed a thousand times over on various social sites, reaching viewers from all over the world. Together as one the world smiled and hugged each other over this heartwarming news.

One by one each live stream was cut short with no explanation.

One by one the viewers scratched their heads and scoured the web carefully for some meaning, clicking on video after video just in time for it to black out.

Only a single day after the festivities began, all online traffic from France skated to a complete halt. News channels latched on to other stories in a confused and rushed attempt to not panic the public watching.

The internet was in a frenzy. How could an entire country just go dark? Why was the media making no mention of the silence? What was happening with the people of France? All over the world government officials tapped their pens in contemplation, families called their relatives on vacation, friends in online communities waited for a response from their now silent contacts.

A few days later groups from various countries made the journey to France, to see with their own eyes what had happened. What they encountered left the world in disbelief.

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

Valentin hummed thoughtfully as he stood in the run down store. There wouldn’t be much left, after the infected and any survivors had come through. And any food that may have been left behind would likely be spoiled by now, left exposed to the elements and the rodents. But he enjoyed the feeling of standing in the store. It reminded him of a simpler time. A time when the only real problem he had was making sure he could pay for a college that wasn't too far from his brother. Valentin laughed softly as he remembered when all anyone in the world thought about was how much something they needed would cost. How much a job would pay them per hour. How much so and so's birthday would be. The prices of fuel for their cars. How much a can of beans cost from the grocery store.

His foot nudged a tipped over bottle and he slowly observes the mess. “It’s too bad we can’t throw money at the apocalypse and make it go away. About the only thing we were really good at was throwing money at things.” An overturned cart at the end of the isle caught his eye and he studied it thoughtfully. It was intact, the wheels still in good condition. It could probably hold any supplies he found, though the sound of it on the street would likely attract unwanted attention. He clicked his tongue. Better not.

“Hey, do you think that money is even a thing anymore? Would any of us still use it? Or do you think everyone reverted to a barter system like we used before we placed our life's value on a piece of paper?” He shifted from side to side. This store had a foul smell to it that grew stronger the longer he remained. Valentin sighed. “Were you even old enough for money to be important?” He turned to face the entrance of the store, or more specifically the slumped body at the entrance. He cocked his head to the side and thought silently for a half a minute.

It was really only a few steps to reach the kid, his original plan of a stroll to look for supplies had ended up being more of a 'stand and ponder the ridiculousness of the end of the world’. Rocking slightly on the balls of his feet before crouching down he brushed the red curls from the kids face to study the obvious signs of infection. Another failed attempt. Valentin had no way of knowing how old this one was, but judging by the features he estimated around 16. Younger than the ones before, but clearly not young enough.

He sighed and brought his hand away, to the belt that held his knife. “It’s okay. You weren’t the only one. In fact, none of them could do it really. But you lasted longer than everyone else, and honestly I think that’s a great sign.”

His gloved hand gripped the knife tight as he brought it out to gently trace the kids ears. “You may have gotten infected, but what I learned from you will be invaluable.” He closed his eyes. “Thank you.”

After muttered a few seconds of prayer for the kid he opened his eyes again and cut the bindings on the kids wrists. When he woke up he would certainly be a volatile creature likely to seek out any living thing he could rip apart, but Valentin would be long gone by that point. The knife went back in its sheath and he stood to walk out of the store without a second look.

Remembering a simpler time was nice and all but the infected didn’t care for his reminiscing.

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

“Wake up.”

A deep inhale and a frown showed he heard, but his eyes wouldn’t open. The female voice sounded again.

“Please wake up.” A chair moved off to the side and hesitant footsteps came slightly closer. “Oh but, please don’t wake up infected. That would really, really suck. I mean I used way more supplies bandaging you than I thought I would and if it turned out you were infected then uh…”

The man on the bed inhaled again, slower this time, fighting through the sleep that still gripped his mind. His eyes slowly slid open and he squinted at the hazy picture. Blinking several times cleared the sight before him; a peeling ceiling with an off yellow colour. He couldn’t determine if the yellow was the paint or if it was the way the light hit it. The thought of it was all he could cling to as he continued to blink away the haze. A face appeared out of the corner of his eyes and his gaze lazily slid to the side. The brown haired girl immediately smiled.

“Oh! There you are! And look, no signs of the infection, that’s excellent!” She moved her arms behind her and the sound of something being set down echoed in his ears. Her smile was warm as she walked the last few steps over to the bed. “I thought for sure you would either die or wake up to eat me. Or kill me. Or peel my skin off bit by bit. I saw that happen to Hector back in town.”

“What.” His voice sounded off. Rusty and low. His cyan eyes studied her for a brief moment before he tried to sit up. “What is going on?”

Her hands quickly appeared to help him. “Slowly please, you look like you’ve been wrestling with the infected.” She moved a pillow behind him for support.

“Infected.” He breathed deeply a few times, feeling instantaneously nauseous. There were aches and pains scattered all over his body.

Something in his voice stilled the woman beside him and she gazed at him silently. When he looked over at her again her smile had turned down into a small frown. He opened his mouth to speak but she beat him to it. “What’s your name?”

All at once things seemed to both move too fast and yet too slow. A rushing in his ears was overpowering and a bitter taste erupted from the back of his mouth. He shook his head and breathed out of his mouth. The girl reached for a glass of water on the table and brought it to him. “Easy, don’t gulp it.” She helped him drink for a few seconds before putting it back. The man closed his eyes and leaned back against the headrest. His fingers began tapping against the blanket in a rhythm that seemed familiar and alien.

“Sorry. With everything you must have gone through I imagine me babbling your ear off as soon as you wake up isn’t going to help things.” Drawers were opened and he felt more than heard her stand. “I’ll go get you some soup. I know it’s not what you want to do right now but you’ve been unconscious for days and you need something in your belly.” Her footsteps walking away caused him to open his eyes and stare at her retreating figure.

“My name.” He blinked away tears as she turned back around to study him. “I don’t know.”

She nodded and fiddled with the door frame next to her. “Thought that might be the case.” Her voice was soft and sad. His stomach clenched at the sound. “That’s okay, one thing at a time. I’m sure you’ll find the answers soon enough. I’ll help ya if you want too.” She grinned at him and the warmth behind it eased his nerves a little. “I’m Laura, by the way. We can talk more over soup.” At his small nod she grinned wider and walked out of the room.

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

Alfred stared silently at the soldier standing in front of him. It was true they needed everyone who was capable. Everyone who wasn’t infected. Anyone who they could find. But by god he was ready to throttle this man.

“I gave you very clear orders.”

“Yes I know, sir.”

“Orders which you then ignored.”

The mans fists clenched tighter at his sides. “Sir, I --”

“You all have your orders for a reason, soldier.”

Alfred watched at the man straightened his back and clenched his jaw. “Yes. Sir.”

The blonde man nodded once and started pacing, arms crossing over his chest as he mulled the situation over. “So run me through it then, why you thought maybe you knew better than your commanding officers.” The man frowned slightly and Alfred stopped pacing to lean against the wall, fixing the soldier with a blank but steady stare. “Go on, speak freely. I want to know what you were thinking.”

The man cleared his throat. “We’ve patrolled that sector maybe a half a hundred times, sir. If we were going to find anything we would have by now. I thought if we pushed out just a bit further we could establish a wider perimeter. Beat the infected back and give us more of a foothold.”

Alfred nodded. “I see. And, out of curiosity, how would we maintain this wider perimeter?”

The man frowned. “Sir?”

“Do you have a few dozen recruits hiding away that I don’t know about?”

The mans neck twitched. “No, sir.”

Alfreds gaze flickered to sit behind the soldier, spotting Yao coming down the stairs with a stack of papers. “That’s a damn shame, soldier. We sure could use some extra recruits since your entire squad now has to recover from the various injuries sustained during your heroic attempt to give us space to stretch our legs.” His blue eyes snapped back to the man in front of him. “We’ve only just barely been able to hold what little area we have, the damn things have been testing for weak spots for a while now – as you are well aware. And you just gave them the perfect opening.”

The color slowly drained from his face as he processed the words. “I …”

Alfred pushed off the wall and sighed deeply. He was too tired for this shit. “Go and tell Colonel Grat I need to speak with him, and then head back to medical. You’re damn lucky we didn’t lose anyone.” The man saluted and walked off quickly. Alfred scoffed. Another day another headache.

“Sounds like a fun debriefing.” Yao came to stand where the soldier had, wearing a weary smile.

Alfred shook his head with another sigh. “Damned idiot decided to try and be a hero and got his whole squad messed up. Had to send out a truck to pull them out.” The two started walking through the warehouse. “We lost sector 9 because of it.”

Yao hummed. “Sector 9 is… the big park to the north, correct?”

“Yeah. Damn thing is overrun by vegetation and the infected refused to set foot in it. Might be able to trick them into leaving so we can take it back, or if all that fails we could just launch an all out attack but...”

Yao grabbed Alfreds’ elbow and stopped walking. “Why do we need to take it back? Wouldn’t that just put more soldiers at risk? We don't really need an overgrown park... right?”

Alfred kept his gaze straight ahead but didn’t try to move his arm.

“Al?”

He tapped his foot before turning to stare directly at the other man. “I’m doing everything I can to keep this facility safe.”

“I don’t doubt that but…” Yaos’ eyes were concerned as he studied Alfreds face. “There is something you aren’t wanting to tell me.”

“Man, there are a lot of things I don’t want to tell you.” Alfred brought a hand up to scratch angrily through his own hair. “I don’t want to tell you just how fucked we are. I don’t want to tell you how isolated we are. I don’t want to tell you that the fucking zombies are getting smarter.” The man growled in frustration as he continue walking.

“Okay but the park --” Yao hurried to keep up.

“In the middle of that park is our last line of defense. If we can’t take it back from the infected then we might as well just start divvying up bullets.” Alfreds eyes landed on the papers. “Any luck with your research?”

The frown on Yaos’ face said more than his words but the desire to placate his friend overtook his curiosity. For the moment anyway. “Still no cure. But we are starting to understand the symptoms. It appears there is a psychological component we overlooked.”

“A psychological component?”

“Yes it’s fascinating. And honestly quite disturbing.”

 

~*~*~*~*~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Valentin = Romania for if anyone is confused. 
> 
> Let me know what you think and please forgive my errors. It turns out the only time I can actually write anything is 3 in the friggin morning. I hopefully will have time this week to go through and edit everything properly.

**Author's Note:**

> I could have eased into the death but I decided instead to just rip the band-aide off in one go.
> 
> How'd you like it? Did you hate it? Do you want more? Please give me feedback. It's my drug of choice.


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